


Love story

by ylc



Series: Taylor Swift's song inspired AUs [12]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluffy Ending, M/M, Romance, everyone is human AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 13:35:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3449090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ylc/pseuds/ylc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Circumstances might push them away but eventually, they'll find their happy ending.</p>
<p>Part of the Taylor Swift's songs inspired AUs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love story

**Author's Note:**

> So, I started writing this… and it didn’t quite work out as I wanted. So I’m trying again and saving the other beginning for “I knew you were trouble” (which I’ll finish writing once I figure how to give it a happy ending)  
> For “onlydean” who asked for this song. It’s heavily inspired on the music video from the song, so… hopefully that’s still okay?

The music is nice, but it’s all that Castiel can think of complimenting regarding the party. It’s supposed to be for his birthday, but his mother has somehow managed to turn it into one of her social functions. Castiel doesn’t mind much, though, since he didn’t want a party to begin with.

He’s leaning against the rail of one of the balconies, entertaining himself watching the garden. The good thing about this mansion his mother insisted on buying is that the gardens are beautiful. And the boy (man) who looks after them is quite a sight too.

Castiel tries not to be too obvious about his gigantic crush on the older boy, but everyone in the house knows about it (except his mother, of course). Gabriel and Anna, his siblings, like to tease him about it, even if Anna agrees with him that Dean is very handsome.

Dean Winchester is a couple of years older than Castiel and has a younger brother named Samuel, who he’s always looking after. Sam spends a lot of time in the library, even though he’s not supposed to be inside the house at all. Naomi would probably have a heart attack if she found out, but Castiel likes the younger boy, so he hides him whenever his mother happens to be around (which isn’t very often, really). Dean spends all day in the garden, looking after it with such care that Castiel is more than a little jealous of the plants.

Dean’s and Sam’s father is long gone. He and his wife, Mary, started working for Castiel’s family before Chuck and Naomi married. Mary passed away shortly after Sam’s birth and John never really recovered. He drank a lot and one night, after too many drinks, he didn’t wake up.

Dean took over his father’s job right away, despite him only being 12. Castiel was more than a little awed by the fact and it didn’t take long before his admiration developed into something else entirely. The fact that as Dean aged he became even more handsome also helped.

Now Dean is 23 and still works for Castiel’s family. Castiel knows his family pays him well enough to support himself and his brother and also offer them a place to live, but he supposes that, eventually, Dean will leave. He’s just not meant to stay at the Shurley’s state forever.

That doesn’t stop Castiel from daydreaming. He fantasies of his feelings being returned and running away with Dean. He has their whole life imagined: the house they’d live in, the work he’d have, the children they’d adopt. Just fantasies, because they’ll never be more; Dean will leave eventually and Castiel has to stay and carry on with the family business (because Gabriel is obviously not going to and Anna is just supposed to marry well and don’t worry about such things)

“Hey Cas.”

He turns around and comes face to face with the object of his musings. Dean is wearing a nice suit that it’s a little tight for him and that Castiel is certain belonged to his oldest brother, Michael. “Where did you get that?” he asks curiously, tilting his head a little.

“Gabriel lent it to me. Said I had to look presentable, if I was coming to your birthday party” Dean wrinkles his nose, “I must tell you, it isn’t what I expected.”

Castiel laughs softly. His interactions with Dean are easy; the older man always manages to make him laugh. And although there shouldn’t be such familiarity between them (or at least, that’s what Naomi would say), Castiel doesn’t mind.

“Mother organized it.”

“Ah. That certainly explains it.”

They stand at the balcony in comfortable silence for a while, surveying the garden, “you’re doing an excellent job with those new flowers mother insisted on.”

Dean scoffs. “They’re completely unfitted for this weather, but it’s not like I could argue with your mother. She’s very… headstrong.”

“Stubborn, actually” Castiel says and Dean stifles a laugh. Castiel smiles softly, even if he’s feeling a little guilty. Naomi might not be particularly nice, but she’s still his mother.

“Why did you come? I don’t imagine this is your sort of party” he asks, his tone soft, staring at Dean in the eye. The older male shrugs.

“Don’t know. I- I guess I just wanted to celebrate with you. It’s not every day that you turn 21.”

Castiel nods, even if he’s unconvinced. He and Dean are not friends per se, despite them both wishing they could be. Their current social situation prevents things from developing.

“I’m glad you came” Castiel whispers, stepping closer, feeling bolder than ever before. Maybe it’s because it’s late at night and he has had more than a couple of drinks, or maybe he’s just starting to realize that tonight he’s 21, an adult, and he doesn’t need to obey his mother blindly anymore.

Dean observes him cautiously. There’s something in his eyes, something that gives Castiel hope. He closes the distance between them even more and now he can feel Dean’s breath on his lips. Dean is slightly taller, but not much, so their lips are now almost touching. It’s quite invigorating.

Finally Dean closes the last distance, bringing their lips together. Castiel can feel his knees buckling and suddenly Dean’s arms are around his waist, holding him up. It’s a short lived kiss, but it’s simply perfect.

He smiles at the other boy adoringly and Dean smiles back at him. For a second, is like nothing else existed, just the two of them. The moment is broken however, by the sound of someone clearing her throat rather loudly.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Naomi questions, her tone not betraying the rage she’s undoubtedly feeling. Castiel steps in front of Dean immediately, shielding him from his mother immediate rage.

“None of your concern, mother” Castiel replies, as calmly as he can, even though his heart is beating like mad and he’s having trouble breathing. He’s always been a good son, always doing as his mother said. He’s not used to this defiance and although it’s liberating, it’s also scary.

“Oh, I think it concerns me fully” Naomi states, her eyes sparkling with rage. She takes Castiel’s arm forcefully, pulling him behind her so she can glare openly at Dean. He stands his ground, holding his head high, not even a little apologetic, which makes Naomi’s fuming worse. “Really, Castiel” she hisses, turning her attention back to her son, “the gardener?”

Her voice is full of venom, like she’s spitting out the worst curse ever instead of Dean’s occupation. Castiel can see the way Dean flinches and he curses his mother internally for making Dean feel so self-aware. “Mother, I don’t-”

“You’ll stay away from my son” she tells Dean, ignoring Castiel’s protest, “in fact, you’ll leave this house right away.”

“Mother-!”

“As you wish, mam” Dean replies smoothly, although he’s glaring daggers at her. He turns to Castiel and smiles softly at him, “good evening, Castiel.”

And with that he leaves. Castiel is feeling too many things to react accordingly and by the time his brain screams ‘follow him!’, Naomi is already dragging him towards his bedroom. “You’ll stay here until you’ve come to your senses.” She tells him, pushing him inside the room and locking the door from outside. Castiel throws himself at the door, trying to open it, but it’s useless.

“I’m not a child anymore, mother!” he screams at the top of his lungs, hoping someone will hear him and come to find out what’s happening, “you can’t do this to me!”

The only response he gets it’s the sound of Naomi’s high-heels walking way.

 

* * *

 

Gabriel is the one who comes to his rescue. After screaming himself hoarse, Castiel had little hope for someone coming, but as usual, his older brother is here to help him out. Gabriel curses a lot while he picks the lock and Castiel can do nothing but wait. He’s desparate, worried and frustrated: this whole thing seems out of a Victorian romance novel. Or a bad soap opera.

“He’s waiting for you outside” Gabriel informs him once he manages to open the door. He looks solemn and that’s an odd look on his older brother. Castiel hugs him and thanks him profusely, before hurrying outside the house, doing his best to avoid being seen.

Dean is waiting at the garden, hiding by the apple trees. Sam, looking half-sleepy and angry at being rudely woken up, is sitting on the floor. Castiel’s heart clenches, feeling bad of what’s just happened: he has cost Dean his work and his means to support his younger brother.

“Dean-”

“Don’t” he interrupts him and Castiel bits his lip. Dean smiles softly at him before continuing, “don’t blame yourself Castiel, we’ll be alright.”

“But-”

“Actually, the reason I went to the party was to say goodbye” Dean murmurs and Castiel gasps audibly. His heart is breaking and he’s not sure what to do or say, “Sam’s got himself a scholarship for college and we’re moving with our uncle Bobby to be closer to his school. I wasn’t planning on leaving tonight, but-”

Castiel wants to be happy for him. He really wants to, but his heart clenches at the thought of never seeing Dean again, “I’ll go with you.” He states desperately, clutching Dean’s shirt, “just let me pack some things and-”

“No” Dean utters with such finality that it feels like a physical blow. Castiel stares at him surprised and more than a little hurt and the older man melts a little, “I can’t allow you to do that, Cas. You have a good life here-”

“But I want to be with you!” he exclaims and he suddenly realizes how true that is. He had always thought he would do as his mother expected him to without protesting, but now he realizes this is what he wants. What he has always wanted.

“Cas, please,” Dean holds him close, “I can’t- Please, understand.”

“But-”

“Listen, wait for me. I’ll come back for you, I swear, but not before I have something to actually offer you.”

Castiel wants to say he only wants Dean, but suspects the older male won’t be sway away from his decision. With a sigh, he caves in and agrees. Dean kisses him gently and briefly, “I’ll come back. I promise.”

Castiel watches the brothers go and prays. Prays for them to be safe and happy wherever they’re going and prays for Dean not forgetting his promise.

He doesn’t know what he’ll do if he does.

 

* * *

 

Castiel is turning 38 today. Gabriel organized a party, but he doesn’t want to go. He’ll rather stay at the office, going through a whole bunch of contracts, but he thinks that would be rude.

He sighs, rubbing his temples tiredly. It’s been 17 years since the last time he saw Dean Winchester and one would think he would have moved on by now, but he hasn’t. He can’t.

Ten years ago, while he read a business magazine, he came across Sam’s photograph. Apparently, the younger brother had become head of some big lawyer buffete and was doing quite well. Castiel had scanned the document, feeling happy for Sam, but searching for clues on what had happened to his brother.

Sam mentioned his brother twice in the whole 10 pages long interview. It didn’t give Castiel much to work with.

Five years ago, he found another article. This time, both brothers were on the photograph and Castiel spent at least 10 minutes just gawking at the picture. Time had been good to Dean; if he thought he was handsome at 23, he was beyond gorgeous at 35.

Sam had left the buffet and started working with his brother in their own business. Nowadays they were one of the top providers of security technology for the government; Dean was Head of the Research and Development Division and Castiel was more than a little baffled of how far he had gone in such a short time.

For a few days, he had allowed himself to indulge in little fantasies of Dean finally coming back to him. When a month passed, he locked himself in his room with a bottle of whisky and had drunk himself to sleep.

Of course Dean wasn’t coming back. Why did he ever think he would?

Now he’s here, gazing at the magazine from 5 years ago, drinking in the sight of the man that stole his heart. He has tried to move on and God knows that Anna, Gabriel and even his mother had tried to set him up with as many different people as possible, but his heart is never in it.

How pathetic is he?

Tonight he’ll be celebrating his 38 birthday. Dean is 40 now. Surely he’s already married. The article didn’t mention it, but it didn’t contain much personal information, so maybe they just omitted it. Either way, Castiel knows Dean isn’t coming back to him.

With one last forlorn sigh, he leaves the office and heads towards Gabriel’s house. He hopes his brother can cheer him up.

Otherwise it’s going to be a long night.

 

* * *

The party is loud and half of the guests are people Castiel doesn’t know, so he doesn’t feel half as bad as he ends up leaving and instead wanders through the street.

Gabriel’s house is in the outskirts of the town. After Naomi’s and Gabriel’s last row, his older brother decided he wanted to live as far as possible from their old home but unlike Michel, he also wanted to be close enough for his younger brother to reach in his times of need.

It’s been a blessing really, because otherwise Castiel doesn’t think he would have managed to keep it together. He fights with his mother constantly, but he’s the only one of his siblings who can stand her, so he doesn’t leave. She’s getting older and she’s sick and regardless of everything, she’s still his mother.

Gabriel says he’s loyal to a fault.

Anna left years ago. She ran away one night and they know nothing about her whereabouts. Well, that’s not true. Castiel knows she met someone and she’s living happily somewhere in Europe, although he doesn’t know where exactly. But she’s happy and that’s what matters.

A car rolls down the empty street. Castiel’s heart stops for a beat, recognizing it. But it can’t be. Dean wouldn’t still be driving his old car, would he? Then again, he was always unhealthily attached to it…

The driver rolls down the window. Castiel stares at him for what feels like an eternity, unbelievingly. “Hey Cas” the other man greets, a shy smile on his lips.

“Hello Dean” Castiel’s voice is barely an audible murmur. His heart is beating frenetically now and he pinches himself discreetly, half-convinced this is all a dream.

Dean parks the car and steps out. Castiel watches him in trepidation, hoping against hope that, if this is a dream, he’ll never wake up. “What are you doing here, Dean?” he questions.

Dean looks at the floor, suddenly sheepish. Castiel frowns, “I- I know it’s been a long time” the older man says, not making eye contact. “I’m sorry for taking so long.”

“Dean-”

“I promised I would come back when I had something to offer you. And many times before I thought I could, but it never seemed enough. So I keep postponing and after a while, I was certain you would have moved on, that you had found somebody else…”

“Dean-”

“I ran into your mother last week. She was at one of the charity events Sam always forces me to attend. We talked.”

Castiel holds his breath. Naomi certainly didn’t mention that. “She- she said you hadn’t found somebody else. That you were still waiting and that she still didn’t like me, but she would like for you to be happy.”

It doesn’t sound like something his mother would say, but Castiel doesn’t argue. He steps closer to Dean and after a few seconds of hesitation, he kisses him.

Unlike 17 years ago, this kiss is full of passion and desperation. He clings to Dean like he’s drowning and the other man is his only hope for salvation. He kisses him over and over again, trying to make up for all the lost time.

“Cas- Cas-” Dean tries to say something between kisses, but Castiel keeps interrupting him. He doesn’t want to talk. “Cas, wait.”

He stops and stares at Dean wonderingly. He doesn’t understand the other man’s reluctance to keep on kissing, but he supposes that if he wants to say something, the sooner he lets him get it out of his chest, the sooner they can go back to kissing. “I- I wanted to ask you something.” Dean takes a step back and Castiel immediately tries to close the distance once more, but Dean keeps him away and suddenly he’s kneeling, pulling a box out of his blazer and offering it to Castiel.

“Castiel Shurley, would you m-?”

“Yes!” Castiel exclaims, kneeling on the ground too in order to throw his arms around Dean. “Yes, yes, of course yes!”

“You know, I had a whole speech prepared” Dean says sulkily and Castiel laughs merrily, holding him close, “Sam said it was quite beautiful.”

“I have no doubt about that” Castiel whispers against his ear, “but I’ve waited 17 years for this, Dean. Please excuse me for being a little over-enthusiastic.”

Dean kisses him then, slowly. For a long while they continue that way, until both of their knees start aching and then they finally part, both beaming. “I missed you” Castiel whispers.

“So did I. But I won’t ever leave you alone again. I promise”

Castiel smiles. He knows he can count on Dean Winchester to keep his promises.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh god, that ending is so… so… fluffy!!! I’m particularly proud of how this one-shot turned out. Funny how I hadn't considered this song because it didn't inspired me particularly and yet it turned out to be the longest one-shot from this collection. It might be slightly (or very) clichéd, but I loved it! Hope everyone enjoyed it?  
> Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading and remeber, feel free to prompt me with another song!  
> You can also find me on tumblr: ylc1.tumblr.com


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